How To Use Rich Pins On Squarespace and WordPress

If you’re using Pinterest for marketing at all (And you should be!) you’ve probably heard of or seen Rich Pins before. Maybe you’re already using them… go you! If you aren’t though, you might be a little confused as to what they are, and how you can use them to make your brand look Pintastic.

Right. That was bad. I’ll show myself out.

But in all seriousness, if you aren’t already using Rich Pins stick with me for a few minutes and I’ll explain why you should start and show you how to set them up on either Squarespace or WordPress in under five minutes.

For example, an app pin will include an Install button so people can grab your app without any extra steps. A recipe Rich Pin will include ingredients, cooking time, and serving info in the actual pin description. A place Pin can include a map and phone number, guiding pinners right to your business. An article Rich Pin will include the post headline, author, description, and a direct link to your website underneath. Product pins include pricing, availability, and where to buy. And Movie pins include reviews, ratings, and cast members.

This extra information is pulled directly from your website, with no extra work for you, and can have some serious Pinefits. (Last one, swear)

A regular pin without Rich Pins enabled

With Rich Pins enabled

So Why Should You Use Rich Pins?

Rich Pins give your pins a more professional appearance, which gives your brand more credibility.

Rich Pins make it easier for a potential customer to engage with you, which increases the chances that they will.

Those two reasons alone were enough for me. But if you need one more, it’s tough to find a successful brand on Pinterest who isn’t taking advantage of Rich Pins, which means they work. Successful brands don’t put their time and energy into things that don’t pay off.

So now that you’re sold on why you should use them, how in the hell do you set these things up? I got you.

How To Use Rich Pins on Squarespace

Rich Pins pull their information from meta tags on your website. Meta tags are keywords embedded in your site code that contain information about your articles, products, recipes, etc. Sort of like a behind the scenes catalog of important details.

If that last paragraph made your eye twitch a little I have great news. Squarespace has everything you need to use Rich Pins right out of the proverbial box! You can set up Product and Article Rich Pins without writing a single line of code. You just need to follow the two steps below and in about five minutes you’ll be set up and ready to attract more traffic!

Step One: Validate

To enable Rich Pins on Squarespace you’ll need to go to Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator and paste the link to any post on your website. It doesn’t matter which post, and you’ll only have to do this once per site. Click Validate, and you should see a message that your pin has been validated.

Note: If you have trouble with the validator, make sure the post you’re using has already been pinned at least once.

Step Two: Apply

After you validate your link you’ll see an option to Apply for Rich Pins. Make sure this is set to HTML Tags and click Apply Now.

That’s it!

As long as everything went smoothly anything pinned from your site from now on will be a Rich Pin. If you had issues on this step you might check the Rich Pin Documentation for ideas.

How To Use Rich Pins on WordPress

Because WordPress doesn’t have the meta tags Pinterest requires built in you’ll need to add one more step to the process here, but it’s still super fast.

Step One: Install Yoast

Log into your WordPress admin panel and go to Plugins -> Add New. Search for Yoast SEO (this will try to autocorrect to Toast SEO, which is not nearly as effective). Install the plugin and activate it. Once it’s activated go to the Yoast “Features” panel and make sure the “Advanced Settings Pages” is enabled.

Note: Yoast is one of the first plugins I install on all of my client’s WordPress sites. It’s great for search engine optimization and making sure your social media shares show up correctly.

That’s it! Follow steps one and two from the Squarespace section to validate and apply for Rich Pins, and give yourself a hearty pat on the back for taking a few minutes to improve your marketing!

Thinking about DIYing your site? Stuck in an endless loop of Google searches and trial and error? Let me help! I'll walk you through the exact process I use when building sites for my own clients! Click here to learn more.